DIY Bookbinding

PREPARE SIGNATURES FOR STITCHING 7

Prepare Signatures for Stitching

Before actually binding your F&Gs, you must sew them all together around strong,

¼"-width linen tapes (ask for

bookbinding tape

at your local craft store) at the spine. This

process creates the added durability offered by a hand-bound book.

Using three tapes, running perpendicular to the folds of

the signatures, provides for the strongest spine. With your

ruler and pencil, make eight marks along the fold of the

first signature. Make your first mark ½" from the head of

the signature, and make another ½" from the foot; these

marks will hold the kettlestitches (the points where one

signature is sewn to the next).

The other six marks represent the points where you’ll

sew around the tapes (two marks—an

in point

and an

out point

—for each tape). Keeping these marks in pairs

just a fraction wider than ¼" (to prevent puckering

near the tape when you sew around it), space the three

pairs evenly between the two kettlestitches. Stack the

remaining signatures to make the same marks, at the same

measurements.

Use a medium-duty awl to pierce through the marks you’ve made in each signature. The holes should be just wide

enough to allow a needle to work its way through, keeping the thread as snug as possible against the hole; don’t

create a huge opening.

8 DIY BOOKBINDING

Now, you’re just about ready to sew. Though using a

stitching ...